TB Brighthouse is at it again

So for years I had a series 2 connected to a set top box in my bedroom and brighthouse DVR's in living room and kids bedrooms, at 20 bucks a pop. after too much wasted time doing that, I upgraded and bought 3 premieres and only had one set top box from BH and then got even smarter, bought my Roamio and two minis and returned the set top box.
As a result of getting the minis, took the cable cards and tuning adapters back to BH and was advised that as of May 6th 2014, they are moving 52 channels to SDV (switched digital video) and will need a box of theirs or one of their tuning adapters. I got rid of all the BH equipment on purpose and the only thing I have is their cable modem because it has 2 phone jacks. Now it seems as they are holding me hostage in the sense that if i want to view channels that I am paying for, i have to have their equipment in my house OR pay for useless service I cant receive.
The worst of it being my only other option is satelite or OTA programming.

So for years I had a series 2 connected to a set top box in my bedroom and brighthouse DVR's in living room and kids bedrooms, at 20 bucks a pop. after too much wasted time doing that, I upgraded and bought 3 premieres and only had one set top box from BH and then got even smarter, bought my Roamio and two minis and returned the set top box.
As a result of getting the minis, took the cable cards and tuning adapters back to BH and was advised that as of May 6th 2014, they are moving 52 channels to SDV (switched digital video) and will need a box of theirs or one of their tuning adapters. I got rid of all the BH equipment on purpose and the only thing I have is their cable modem because it has 2 phone jacks. Now it seems as they are holding me hostage in the sense that if i want to view channels that I am paying for, i have to have their equipment in my house OR pay for useless service I cant receive.
The worst of it being my only other option is satelite or OTA programming.

You lost me. Why are we, BHN customer, filing a suit? To BHN's credit, they are the first to proactively work with Cisco to fix their tuning adapter problems. With that said I'm still frustrated by the restricted copy flags that severely limit my out-of-home downloading and streaming on BHN.

Yes, the whole copyright thing drives me nuts. I cant even download the programs onto my laptop anymore through the tivo software even though it is encrypted with my media access key.
They dont charge any extra for a tuning adapter but thats not the point. What is the point is that I dont want Brighthouse equipment in my home and i feel thats my right and I shouldnt be told that I have to pay for service which i cant receive unless i have their equipment.
I know what your thinking, well you dont have to be a brighthouse customer and its true, but because some idiot from Cablelink (BH Contractor) decided the verizon fios wire was in his way so he cut it out from the pole to the house, Verizon wants to charge me 250.00 to set things back up which i refuse to pay and cant get BH to pay so its either BH, Satelite (not over my dead body) or OTA

so the fact that Im paying for service that they are refusing to provide all because i dont want their equipment isnt cause ?

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Look, I feel your pain. I'm on Time Warner Cable, and they have tons of channels on SDV. I don't like having to use a tuning adapter any more than you do, but they aren't shifting channels to SDV in order to punish you. There is a legitimate reason for using SDV (to free up bandwidth), and providing a free tuning adapter to you so that your TiVo will still be able to access SDV channels is a reasonable accommodation.

If it makes you feel any better, TiVo and the cable companies finally seem to be working the kinks out of the tuning adapters.

Yes, the whole copyright thing drives me nuts. I cant even download the programs onto my laptop anymore through the tivo software even though it is encrypted with my media access key.

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The encryption doesn't matter. The flag designates the show as "copy once". Which means once it's recorded to your TiVo it can never be copied again. (that initial recording counts as a copy) So regardless of encryption they cannot make another copy of the show. One potential loophole is they could allow you to move the show rather then copy it. However they'd have to lock the original while it transferred to prevent it from ever existing in two places at once. They'd also have to come up with a new encryption scheme on the PC. The one the use for TiVoToGo is not secure at all and would never be approved by CableLabs. They'd need a more locked down, end to end, system like the iOS app, where the downloader and player are all one piece of software. Even then they might get challenged by CableLabs since moving a file like that is sort of a loophole and has no precedent. Streaming to another TV/device is a similar loophole but the cable companies started doing it in their own equipment first so TiVo had precedent on that one.

so the fact that Im paying for service that they are refusing to provide all because i dont want their equipment isnt cause ?

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It doesn't matter what you "feel is your right", BHN can require you to have a tuning adapter. If they can make all of their linear channels work with your TiVo, with a tuning adapter, they are in compliance with FCC regulations.

I held out on the tuning adapter for a long time on the same basic principle, but finally gave in (and now have two). Yes, they're a hassle to set up and it's another piece of equipment in the stack, but they're free, you can pick them up at a local BHN office without requiring a truck roll, and they allow you to watch those SDV channels.

I am curious, though, as to which new channels are moving to SDV in May. I haven't seen any letter or notice of this yet.

Once Comcast DTAs were free too. Now Comcast gets $2 a device.
Also Comcast has introduced yet another cost this year: "Broadcast Recovery Fee"
o'boy. They are very inventive and able to take away with one hand what
they give you gratis with the other hand.

So for years I had a series 2 connected to a set top box in my bedroom and brighthouse DVR's in living room and kids bedrooms, at 20 bucks a pop. after too much wasted time doing that, I upgraded and bought 3 premieres and only had one set top box from BH and then got even smarter, bought my Roamio and two minis and returned the set top box.
As a result of getting the minis, took the cable cards and tuning adapters back to BH and was advised that as of May 6th 2014, they are moving 52 channels to SDV (switched digital video) and will need a box of theirs or one of their tuning adapters. I got rid of all the BH equipment on purpose and the only thing I have is their cable modem because it has 2 phone jacks. Now it seems as they are holding me hostage in the sense that if i want to view channels that I am paying for, i have to have their equipment in my house OR pay for useless service I cant receive.
The worst of it being my only other option is satelite or OTA programming.

We talked at length yesterday and I thought you understood your options here. The fact that you were able to move recordings previously had nothing to do with us. Your software was not adhering to industry standards and ignore the CCI bit (apparently). Nothing has changed on this end to cause your issues it is and has been the same configuration for quite some time.

They dont charge any extra for a tuning adapter but thats not the point. What is the point is that I dont want Brighthouse equipment in my home and i feel thats my right and I shouldnt be told that I have to pay for service which i cant receive unless i have their equipment.
OTA

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Because the CableCard in the Roamio isn't Brighthouse equipment too?

You'll find plenty of sympathy here regarding TA's and their track record of poor reliability and tuning failures. It seems the .1901 Cisco firmware that many MSO's are starting to push out may finally get the tuning reliability that TA's should have had from the beginning. What you won't find is much sympathy for the argument you're making.

It seems the .1901 Cisco firmware that many MSO's are starting to push out may finally get the tuning reliability that TA's should have had from the beginning.

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Does this new firmware fix the total TA failure problem? About 1/month or so my Cisco TA will silently fail and lose all tuning ability. This cannot be fixed by tuning new channels. The only recourse is to power off and reboot it.

Does this new firmware fix the total TA failure problem? About 1/month or so my Cisco TA will silently fail and lose all tuning ability. This cannot be fixed by tuning new channels. The only recourse is to power off and reboot it.

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I personally haven't had a total lock-up recently, but I've only been on .1901 for about a month. Probably not enough user data to give you an answer to that issue yet.

I held out on the tuning adapter for a long time on the same basic principle, but finally gave in (and now have two). Yes, they're a hassle to set up and it's another piece of equipment in the stack, but they're free, you can pick them up at a local BHN office without requiring a truck roll, and they allow you to watch those SDV channels.

I am curious, though, as to which new channels are moving to SDV in May. I haven't seen any letter or notice of this yet.

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The announcement just came out yesterday to BH employees. I was returning two cards due to buying minis and was told about it then. They did say customers will be getting a letter about it.